What Would You Take?

We’ve had a couple of large forest fires in the canyons near our home and business in the past few months. Yes, forest fires even happen during the winter! In one fire over 3,000 people were given 30 minutes to pull together their personal and business belongings before they were required to vacate. They were kept out of their homes and businesses for 5 days before the fire danger abated. Our area is prone to forest fires; other areas of the country are plagued with tornados, floods or earthquakes. What would you do if you were given only 30 minutes to gather up your belongings before being forced to flee? Here are some tips that will make this process less stressful and maybe even give you time to grab a couple of extra personal objects. rn1.Have a dedicated file cabinet or drawer for all your permanent financial documents. This tip applies to both your personal and business financial files. Gather your permanent business documents such as your last three years tax returns, budgets and year end financial statements and put them in this drawer. Include back up CDs of your computer’s hard drive, IRS notice of tax ID number, a copy of your sales tax license, insurance policies and any other permanent documents that are applicable to your business. Personally, be sure to include your social security card, any military service documents, passports, immunization records if you have children at home, your homeowner’s and car insurance policies and a list of all medical conditions and any prescribed medications for family members. If you have a diabetic in the family, or someone with another condition requiring medication, you might want to have an emergency supply kit on hand. Be sure to include a list of all your bank accounts, security codes, passwords and the key to your safe deposit box. Now that you have all the physical documents in one place, commit to converting these documents to .pdf files and copying to a CD for off-site storage. Within the next year or two, cloud storage will offer more secure options and may well be a choice to consider, but for now, off-site storage may be your best choice. 2.Know where your checkbook and current bills are located. If you pay all your bills online, then make sure you have your check register and some hard copy checks in an accessible spot. Make sure other people, such as spouses or business partners, are aware of the location of this information. If this is usually kept under lock and key (a wise business move), then be sure you know the location of the key to that drawer or file cabinet! In cases of emergencies, it’s easy to become rattled and temporarily forget important things such as combinations to locks and security codes. 3.Take out your wallet right now and photocopy all of your credit cards, insurance cards, library card, and anything else in your wallet. Be sure you photocopy both the front and back of each card. Put this list in your permanent file cabinet. Strange things happen in cases of emergency, and some people have found they’ve left behind important things, such as purses and cell phones, so be prepared! 4.Take pictures of each room of your home or business just in case you need this information for insurance purposes. Be sure to get close ups of any serial or model numbers. Open up those drawers and cupboards and take pictures of the contents! Hopefully no one ever will ever see these pictures, but if you are required to prepare an inventory list for insurance purposes you will be way ahead of the game. Put those pictures in your permanent file cabinet, or download them to a special CD marked “Inventory”, date it and file it in the permanent file folder. 5.Have a fire drill. You don’t need to pack everything up and vacate the premises, but look around your office and think about not being able to get back into your office for the next week. What would you miss most? Assume that your office’s computer network would be inaccessible and your phones may not work if the power is off. Would you be able to access email? Pay your vendors? Order supplies? Speak with clients? Design a contingency plan and commit to implementing it within the next three months. We were able to pack most of my essentials and a few of the things I can’t live without in that 30 minute time frame. Could you?